Thomas Browne, 1605--1682

03 Oct 1994 12:00

English physician, Christian apologist, experimenter (Needham credits him with some of the first experiments
in embryology), believer in witch-craft, collector of oddities and writer of
genius, possessed of a style which is almost the opposite of everything rhetors
have been recommending for the last few centuries --- polysyllabic, Latinate,
elaborate, serpentine, digressive --- which is however carried off with great
skill and charm.

Recommended:

The Garden of Cyrus, or The Quincuniall, Lozenge, or Net-work
Plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, Mystically
Considered. With Sundry Observations. [e-text with
frames; without
frames]